snack attack

I wonder if it's going to be a habit to update this with the previous day's edibles... hmm. We will see.

Lunch: all beef hot dog with ketchup on a smushed bun. I don't have hot dogs very often.

As a snack later on I searched through the apples and found another relatively small one. It was a beautiful day outside, so I went outside to eat it.. and found box elder bugs and spiders everywhere. So after I took the picture I went back inside.. le sigh.

more snacks... I think I thought the hot dog would fill me up more than it did. Here we have some Ritz crackers with blackberry jam! I wanted to find some locally made jam, but I think I am past prime jam season now...

More snacks... eep. Dried mango! I love this stuff. It's a little sugary, but it's really hard to find dried fruit that isn't ridiculously oversugared. This kind isn't too bad. The only brand I have found that doesn't have tons of sugar are some of the Trader Joe ones. We don't have a Trader Joes near here, though. I have five or six pieces, which is about a serving.

I am trying so hard to not to snack like crazy but I was so hungry just a little while later... the Cheez-its make a comeback. I had five of these little guys.

Finally, dinner time has arrived. I went with some of my family to the pizza place down the street. They serve peanuts! The kind that you crack 'em open and toss the shells on the ground.

My brother ordered a "double decker" pizza that was half sausage, a quarter pepperoni, and a quarter cheese. A double decker pizza is pizza dough that has all the ingredients rolled up into it. It's a bit thicker than average pizza, and the dough is nice and soft. I am not one for hard, thin pizza, so this worked out great for me.

My piece! It didn't fit on the plate... the tip was tucked under. Whenever I eat pizza, I always take a few napkins and dab off all the grease. Cause grease is just gross. :( My favorite part about this was the doughy crust!

Later that evening I really wanted a dessert snack of some sort.. but we didn't have anything that I deemed worth the calories. I got the inclination to make hot chocolate, but right next to the hot chocolate was tea. So I opted to make cinnamon apple spice tea. Added a little bit of honey, sugar, and ground cinnamon, because I'm not a fan of straight tea. I have a bit of a sweet tooth. It was good! I want to go pick up some new teas at the store now.

layering

It's lunchtime. The all American staple: Peanut butter and jelly. Oh, and a little apple cider. The bread is 'whole wheat white' which is slightly healthier than white bread. I personally would prefer legit whole grain bread, but I would be the only person in my house eating it, so therefore it is not bought. Sigh. But do you see that jam? That is cherry jam from Canada's, which is based in... can you guess? Canada. Formerly known as Malkin's, Canada's is some amazing jam. My family goes up north every year and we stockpile on jam. If you ever see some, get it! So good. My all time favorite is cherry, because it was such a big part of my childhood, but I also love blackberry and blueberry. Other flavors include strawberry, apricot, saskatoon, and raspberry.

Snackage time... was reading most of the day, and the gobstoppers were near me. They are nearly gone now.

Dinner was an epic adventure. I made a lasagna! This is my mom's recipe, and this was my first time making it on my own. Also, I was actually making dinner. This never happens in my house. Ever.

Well, I say I made it on my own... my mom actually made the meat sauce the day prior and refrigerated it, but in my defense I actually know how to make that sauce. I love this sauce. No straight-out-of-a-jar sauces here. (My fiancé has not accepted this yet.)

Hello in process photo.

I cooked the noodles though! ...which, of course, was far more epic than need be. When I stuck them in the pot I realized I didn't have enough water, then I cooked them for 5 minutes longer than told and they were still undercooked (I was told later this was okay, since they bake in the oven), and then I'm not... 100% I was supposed to leave them in the strainer. OH WELL.

Here we are layering on tasty mozzarella cheese!

After all the layers are on! I think I put the layers on in the right order. I didn't think anyone was going to analyze it after it was baked.

Finished lasagna! I think it came out pretty well, and my nephew assured me it tasted good. If little kids will eat it, you know you did something right. (By the way, I nearly forgot to take a photo, so I already ate like a third of this... oops.)

Afterwards, the cookies my sister-in-law made yesterday were so good, I wanted a legit ice cream sandwich. so I got two chocolate chip cookies and stuck in a little cookies n cream ice cream. Sad thing is, this was terrible. The cookies were over a week old and the ice cream had been sitting in the freezer for a few months... ick. I wish I could undo eating this. My nephew told me he felt the same way after eating one of these cookies. Sigh.

Late night snack: Ritz cracker with a bit of sharp cheddar cheese on it. I love cheese, so when I have it I try not to eat too much of it. Hence.. one cracker.

First day

Alright, first [real] post! Since I came up with the idea to document what I eat after I had eaten lunch, there are no pictures of my apple and spinach salad... but I really enjoyed it, so I will probably make it again. And we have a ton of apples from going apple picking at local orchards. I love fall.

Anyway, there wasn't a terrible amount of protein in my lunch so I wanted a snack. I tried to make hard boiled eggs! Which... I had never done before.

I wound up overcooking them... the whites tasted okay, but the yolk was a little hard, crumbly, and dry. They weren't bad enough for me to toss the other two eggs, I'll probably save them and use them in a salad.

Look! A chocolate chip cookie. It looks so innocent, too. My mom bakes and then leaves goodies in the kitchen... sigh.

I drink water almost exclusively, but it's fall- that means it's apple cider season! This stuff was made at the local apple orchid a few miles from my town. Normally when I drink something at home that is not water, I literally only have an ounce or two just so I can get the flavor of it and not all the calories- and then I switch back to water. And then it lasts a long time! Which is nice, because I love this cider.

Late afternoon I was getting hungry again, so I delved into the large store of apples and added a little bit of peanut butter protein. I love the apples from the orchid, because you can get them in all sorts of sizes. The big ones are great for a salad or for baking. If I just want a little snack, I can find a little guy like this one. It was smaller than a tennis ball.

My mom rules the kitchen for dinner, so I basically eat what is made. I have recently convinced her to make broccoli, my favorite vegetable! It doesn't really go well with the meat, but it's healthier than other options. The meat and potatoes were leftovers, but the meat was actually really crumbly and tender. I'm not a huge fan of beef, but this was pretty good. Also, mashed potatoes are one of my ultimate weaknesses. I also caved and had a dinner roll. See, I must confess the good and the bad.

I had a brownie.. and a half.. afterwards. Brownies are another one of my ultimate weaknesses... I am pretty good about resisting lots of sweets, but the rules are out the window when it comes to brownies. One and a half is.... actually not terrible for me. I'm working on it.

For an evening snack I had a Special K 90calorie chocolate drizzle bar. I felt kinda blah after eating it, so that may not have had the best decision.